Friday 4 March Clwyd Railway
Circle
AGM followed by Photo Competition and Members Night. Members are
invited to give a 15 minute presentation of their choice, any format
welcomed. Please book your slot no later than 18th February by
contacting David Jones (see below for
details).

Monday 7 March RCTS
Port Sunlight
John Day will give a digital presentation on 21st Century Steam
featuring steam in the UK, USA, China and the Ukraine.

Monday 21 March RCTS
Chester
Paul Chancellor FROM BLUE AND GREY TO BLACK AND GREEN. Paul from
Colour-Rail presents slides illustrating the wide variety of liveries
that have adorned British steam, diesel and electric locomotives over
the past 60 years.

Friday 1 April Clwyd Railway
Circle
Geoff Morris: The Railways of South-West Wales over the
last 30
years. A photographic journey looking at the railway scene in
Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and West Glamorgan, an area often
neglected by the railway enthusiast. We visit far-flung outposts
of
the passenger system (Fishguard Harbour, Milford Haven, Pembroke Dock,
Central Wales line) and also meet some unusual diesels (cut-down
classes 03 & 08) on the
way.

Monday 18 April RCTS
Chester
Geoff Morris: ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE. A digital presentation of
Geoff’s 2010 visit to Australia featuring main line & preserved
steam in Victoria, New South Wales & Queensland plus views of the
modern scene and the odd kangaroo!

The end of the Wrexham & Shropshire

What can we say? At 09:00 on 26 January Wrexham & Shropshire
released a statement that due to continuing losses their operations
would be closing down completely after the evening train from London to
Wrexham two days later on Friday 28 January. The staff had been told
the day before, we believe, with the result that the first train from
Wrexham on 26 January left Wrexham without passengers, reportedly as
some of the crew were too upset
to report for work.

Remarkable as it may seem that a train company can crash like this at
such
short notice, this was indeed what happened. Arrangements had been made
for other companies to honour tickets, and that was that.

Needless to say, we have received many pictures, reports and comments
from readers: we'll collate these and present them properly in the next
next issue. Rich Billingsley's
picture above shows the last train on arrival at Wrexham.

The locomotive for the last train was 67
013Dyfrbont Pontcysyllte
(George Jones)

The Holy Oakes Railtour

On Saturday 26 March, a Spitfire Railtours charter is running from
Taunton to Chester, and is called the 'Holy Oakes'. As well as the main
trip (running via Weston-Super-Mare, Bristol, Cam & Dursley,
Cheltenham, Droitwich, Tame Bridge and Manchester), a mini tour from
Manchester Victoria and Chester to Holyhead and back, is planned to
run. The fare structure for the 'mini tour' is as follows:

Manchester Victoria - £25 if booked in advance, or £30 on
the day.

Chester - £20 if booked in advance, or £25 on the day.

Traction for the tour is planned to be a pair of West Coast Railway
Company Class 37s.

Train reaches destination - report by Chris Morrison

Following the failure of this train on the last two Saturdays, I'm
pleased to report an exemplary performance from the driver of 57 304Gordon Tracy from Crewe to from
Holyhead on the 'Pendolino drag' on Saturday 29 January. He was spot on
time all the way, and about 7 mins early into Holyhead. Above, the loco
is being attached to Pendolino 390
018 for the return journey.

Caught the 13:23 train from Holyhead as far as Rhosneigr to get a photo
of the 57 on the return 14:38 to Euston from the popular field by Llyn
Maelog lake to the east of the station.

I couldn't resist attaching a couple of July 1995 pictures scanned from
Fuji Sensia transparencies taken at the same location, of 37 418East Lancashire Railway (above) ...

... and 37 429Eisteddfod Genedlaethol on
afternoon departures from Holyhead when there was a 37 nearly every
hour. Happy days.

LCVRS report - by Larry Davies

The next meeting of the Llandudno
& Conwy Valley Railway Society will be at held on Thursday
10 February, 2011 at the Llandudno Junction Sports and Social Club,
Victoria Drive at 7.30pm. The principal feature will be an address by
Mr Ben Davies, Senior Manager of Arriva Trains Wales on 'Arriva Trains
Wales 2011 – the Way Forward' , together with an opportunity for
questions and answers.

After a break there will be an illustrated show by Larry Davies
entitled 'Arriva Land – Then & Now' – sixty years of changes.
New members and visitors are always welcome.

Sunset Scenes

Later, at Abergele (Darren Durrant)

Welsh Highland Railway news

On Saturday 19 February, two inaugural trains will set off at 10:45 -
one from Caernarfon and one from Porthmadog Harbour - offering the
chance to be one of the lucky few to travel the entire 25 miles of the
Welsh Highland Railway for the first time since the 1930s. Return
tickets are priced at £100 first class [sold out already we
think] and £50 standard class. Passengers will receive a special
souvenir ticket and complimentary magazine commemorating their
participation in this historic event.

From 20 to 27 February (half-term week) a public service will run over
the whole route, with two trains each making a return run, crossing at
Rhyd Ddu (timetable).

On Friday 25 March the Ffestiniog Railway Society’s London Area Group
is promoting a whole-line special train called the 'Eryri Venturer' billed as 'the first
opportunity to travel 80 miles on Narrow Gauge in one Day.' The train
will depart Porthmadog Harbour station about 09:30 to
Blaenau Ffestiniog behind a Double Fairlie loco, then return to
Porthmadog and traverse the new Cross Town Link over the Cambrian Line,
and up the New Welsh Highland line, hauled by the oldest Garratt
Locomotive, K1, to Caernarfon, and return to Harbour Station by 18.00.
A packed lunch is included, together with Souvenir timetable booklet
and some special little extra. The fare is 65.00. Booking forms are
available from k.winter@imperial.ac.uk.

In the Dark - report by Geoff Morris

Having just acquired a new camera I have been testing it out.
Here are a few of the results - all hand-held at very high ISO ratings
(1600 ASA or higher). As it was relatively warm on 13 January, I
ventured out to see the Chirk log train. With a film speed of
6400 ASA I took the attached shot of 66
842 passing Chester Locks - it was too dark to read the number
but it was reported as this one on the North West Gen
group !

On Saturday 15 January I was going out for the day and took a few shots
at Chester and Crewe early in the morning - around 06:30 and 07:00
respectively. At Chester, a pair of Voyagers were waiting
to form the 07:17 to Euston - 221 115Bombardier Voyager (in
its special
livery) provided a nice contrast with the other set.

At Crewe 57 311Parker was 'parked', presumably
prior to working the Saturday "drag" to Holyhead.

Perhaps more interesting was the AC
Locomotive
Group's 86 101 Sir William A Stanier FRSbehind it in the headshunt
between platforms 11 & 12. This loco seems to have been there
for a while as I noted it in the same position on January 3rd while
returning to Chester after Xmas in South Wales.

Prestatyn progress - report by Dave Sallery

The first section of the new footbridge at Prestatyn station (above)
was erected over the weekend of 22-23 January.

A lift tower is under construction in the station car park; the
temporary booking office is on the left of the picture.

Rhyl signalling question

As reported last issue, on Saturday 22 January the Class 57-hauled
Pendolino failed at Rhyl, and while it awaited rescue, other westbound
trains had to pass it via the central 'Down Main' line which does not
have a platform. Contributor John
Hobbs wrote to ask why these
trains could not have used the 'up' platform line which appears to be
signalled for reversible working. We passed this interesting question
to local signalling expert Alan
Roberts, who has kindly provided the following explanation and
accompanying diagram:

The first problem with this is that there is now no crossover at the
west end of Rhyl station. Westbound trains calling at the Up
(eastbound) platform at Rhyl would then have to set back on to the Down
towards Prestatyn and then forward on the Down main towards Abergele
by-passing Rhyl platforms.

The trouble with this move is that any following Down trains due in
Rhyl would have to be held at Prestatyn and also an Up train would have
to wait at Abergele, causing more delays. Before the move from the Up
platform to the Down Main can be done the signaller at Rhyl box has to
send a '3-3' bell signal to Prestatyn, meaning the Down main line is
about to be blocked outside the home signal (RL2,4,8) - this prevents
the signaller at Prestatyn from clearing the signal for a next down
train.

Also, it's impossible to signal a down train to the up platform in Rhyl
if a train has already left Abergele on the up and been held on RL89
signal. There is a signal at the Abergele end of Rhyl Up platform (next
to the former Rhyl No.2 box) - but that signal (RL101) is in fact fixed
at 'red' and is not worked from the signalbox.

There were proposals at one time to have the Up platform bi-directional
all the way; trains would gain the Down Main again via a new
crossover which would have to be installed somewhere in the Marine Lake
area. However this has never happened, and the present arrangement
caters only for any trains from the Chester direction which are known
to be terminating at Rhyl.

Freight news

27 January and, 66 531 is
ready to depart from the quarry with a loaded train (Nick Gurney)

The flask train on 17 January featured the first appearance on these
trains by a loco - 66 434 -
retaining the livery of the now-defunct Fastline company, and now in
use by DRS. It is seen above at Rhosneigr, leading 66 424. Picture by Garnedd Jones.

The same train at Abergele (Stéphanie
Durrant)

Llangollen 'Manor' update - by George Jones

The heavy overhaul of the boiler from 7822Foxcote Manor at
Llangollen is complete and awaits testing before fitting back in the
frames and piping up. The need to replace the front end of the boiler
assembly has seen the delivery of a new smokebox and ring, seen above
on 15 January. Cutting of the holes for the chimney and blast pipe has
yet to take place.

A week later (above) the new smokebox and ring have been fitted as
shown during a trial installation of the boiler in the frames. The
smokebox has been fixed to the saddle and the ring riveted to the
smokebox which needs riveting to the boiler. All heavy work. The
assembly will have to come out again to allow for an hydraulic test of
the repaired boiler. The inside of the smokebox won't stay white for
long!

The new smokebox and ring material have cost in excess of £6000
which just shows some of the expenses involved in preserving a steam
loco these days. The costs of maintaining steam locomotives in the 21st
century is something train-watchers might care to appreciate when 7822
is one of the stars of the Spring gala to be held 8-10 April. Donations
to Foxcote Manor Society
funds are always welcome.

Torquay Manor postscript

Some time ago we referred to the naming of the Manor class locomotives
and the legend that the owner of the eponymous house was a rail
enthusiast persuaded the Great Western Railway to name the first one
no. 7800 as Torquay Manor.

Several interesting responses were received from readers - thanks as
always - from which we can tell you the story is related in C.J.
Freezer's Railway Modeller
magazine series on Locomotives of the GWR.

The gentleman's name was Captain Sir Francis Henry Godolphin
Layland-Barratt, 2nd Baronet (1896-1968), who was a director of the GWR
and a locomotive modeller. He lived at the Manor House, Torquay (not exactly
'Torquay Manor') a Victorian pile which his father had purchased in
1906. It seems that Sir Francis had heard that the new class was to be
named after Manors and was keen to build a model of a locomotive named
after his own house. He enquired whether Torquay Manor was among the
projected names, and because he was a prominent supporter of the GWR
they decided to bestow that name on the first of the class. Peto's Register of Great Western
Locomotives: v.2: The Manor 4-6-0s, by Bill Peto (Irwell Press)
makes reference.

There is an article concerning him in a recent issue of Great Western Railway Journal, no.
76, 2010. 'On the Sunday 7 May 1939 Capt. F.H.G. Layland-Barratt, who
lived at Torquay Manor, Captain W.L. Sparkes and W.F.P. Kelly went on a
photographic expedition to Dainton Summit and took photographs of
themselves and King and Castle hauled trains and a picture of two of
the party with motor car (1937 Bentley) in a drive overlooking
Torbay...'

Place your bets at Chester - report by George Jones

A long-forecast facility in the refurbished concourse at Chester
station has finally been delivered. Now open for business is a William
Hill betting shop (above, right). Does it take bets on trains arriving
on time or whatever other option there may be as to performance? 5 to 1
on the VT will be late - by how much?

I expect these things exist at London termini, and I believe there is
one at Leeds station, but how many others? Not being a betting man I
wouldn't know. You can place
your bet, have a cuppa and watch the trains - paradise for some!